Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A Dessert Fit for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

I decided, since we had the day off from school (teacher in-service, not because of Valentine's Day) that I would take some time and cook a nice meal for the holiday. The Food Network has some great recipes, and had a lovely Valentine's Day section. Our entire meal came from the Food Network website.

Here are the ingredients. The recipe called for chopped semi-sweet chocolate, but I skipped a step and went to fine semi-sweet chocolate chips. They worked great.

The amount of chocolate needed is 9 ounces, so I put my math skills to work and came up with 1 cup and 1/2 cup of chips.

Put the chocolate in a blender.

Then wisk together milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed pan.

I broke 2 of the yolks, but trust me, there are 6 yolks in here. Cholesterol alert!

Wisking...

After stirring constantly for 5-6 minutes (it was more like 11 minutes for me), quickly pour over the chocolate in the blender and put the lid on. Be sure to use a thick towel to hold the top, as it get VERY HOT! Blend until completely combined.

Pour into ramekins...I finally got to use these heart-shaped ramekins that I bought several years ago.

Ah...chocolate.

I only had 4 of the heart-shaped ones, so I needed to get out a couple of regular ramekins.

The puddings need to chill for at least 2 hours, then top with whipped cream and serve. We made our own included in the recipe.

Wow. I think I already said that. It was very rich, and very good. And very easy.

I'm glad I took the extra effort for dinner...I received a nice present.